KOCHI: Stranded at sea, with no food and no land at sight, 40-year-old Ranjumoni Sonowal kept on swimming for 36 hours clinging on to two plastic cans.
By the time Indian Coast Guard ship Arnvesh found him, Ranjumoni was weak and dehydrated. Ranjumoni, a fisherman employed by Tamil Nadu-registered mechanised fishing vessel ‘Zion’, went missing late on March 30 night when the vessel was returning.The incident happened nearly 27km off the Kochi coast.
The boat workers informed Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Mumbai, which issued an alert to the Maritime Rescue Sub Centre in Kochi. The Coast Guard received the message on Tuesday and diverted ICS Arnvesh, which was on patrol duty in the area, for search and rescue operations.
An aerial sortie by a Coast Guard aircraft was also launched to augment the search efforts.
Following a search operation, the team spotted Ranjumoni struggling to stay afloat in the sea and rescued him at 11.45 am on Wednesday. Ranjumoni who was shifted to ICS Arnvesh, was found deeply dehydrated and suffering from hypothermia. He was provided first aid and shifted to a hospital in Kochi.